I’m not saying that the A-10 should not ultimately be retired. All planes become outdated sooner or later. However, the A-10 is a special purpose aircraft and until something better is designed its should remain and then finally phased out. The F-35 has not filled that niche.
“I’m not saying that the A-10 should not ultimately be retired. All planes become outdated sooner or later. However, the A-10 is a special purpose aircraft and until something better is designed its should remain and then finally phased out. The F-35 has not filled that niche.”
No one is saying anything different, not even the Air Force Chief of Staff who is ordering the retirement of the A-10. What the Air Force Chief of Staff is saying is that the Air Force has been ordered to cut one trillion dollars in spending by retiring aircraft and squadrons; and because the A-10 is a one role aircraft, it must be sacrificed before sacrificing the multi-role aircraft and squadrons in further upcoming budget cuts. Instead of heaping abuse and maligning the motives and reputations of these Air Force officers, they need your sympathy and understanding for the thankless task they are being compelled to do, and they need your help in restoring the budget appropriations which would make such dangerous sacrifices and choices unnecessary.
You should also note there already has been a desire in the Air Force to design and produce an improved successor to the A-10 and its singular focus on the CAS mission, but the current and future cutting of the military and naval budgets by one-third in the next ten years makes such a concept aircraft an impossibility. If it were to be attempted, it would necessarily be compromised with a directive to design it as another multi-role aircraft to satisfy the budget concerns.
Or, we could just mount the GAU-8 30mm gun in a B52....